The natural gas industry and environmental groups in Pennsylvania agree on at least one thing: it would be good for the United States to be independent of foreign oil.

While the various companies in the gas industry — predictably — have been able to present a united front through the Marcellus Shale Coalition, no similar unanimity of purpose is evident from the environmental lobby.

That was illustrated again Tuesday during a PennEnvironment press conference in the Capitol Rotunda.

PennEnvironment — one of the relatively outspoken anti-drilling groups — presented a “plan” to transition Pennsylvania off oil.

Cars should be required to get 60 miles to the gallon by 2025, they said, while greater investments should be made in public transportation and alternative domestic energy.

The plan — predictably — was silent on any role natural gas might play.

In fact, it would play no role at all in PennEnvironment’s vision, according to a spokeswoman.

Others lined up in support of the “plan” had other views.

Rep. Greg Vitali, D-Delaware, said natural gas — and the process of hydrofracking to get it — were not going away, and he included natural gas in his list of things that could help wean Pennsylvania off oil.

Likewise, the environmental group PennFuture sees natural gas as an important part of the solution.

The most important thing — in PennFuture’s view — is to reduce both air pollution and greenhouse gasses, which natural gas would do.

“You have to understand gas is a bridge,” said retired Harrisburg area physician and PennFuture board member James Jones. “It’s far better than oil and coal, but it’s not the final answer.”

The 60 miles per gallon goal includes “a fair dose of electricity” from plug-in cars, Jones noted.

While it’s less polluting to drive a car fueled by electricity generated by coal, and while electricity generated by natural gas is cleaner yet, both coal and gas are finite resources fraught with environmental issues.

How to get to a sustainable energy future from where we’re currently at is a policy issue that deeply divides the environmental community.

There’s a more important goal, said Tim Diehl.

A retired Air Force master sergeant who served in Iraq, Diehl said he led 12 Americans in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was responsible for making sure those young men and women returned home to their families.

“That’s an awesome responsibility and something we shouldn’t be putting on anyone because we can’t wean ourselves from foreign oil,” he said.

“Every day we send a billion dollars overseas for oil, much of which ends up in the hands of terrorists or nations that don’t share America’s values,” said Diehl. “Clean energy makes America stronger at home and around the world.”

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